XXXV. Omnes eodum cogimur, omnium Sors exitura et nos in æternum Hor. II. 3. Not for ever, not for ever Is our union decreed, Not for ever runs Life's river O'er the rock and thro' the mead, But for ever and for ever We shall meet again indeed. If all smoothly runs the river Rosy banks and bowers between, Let us ask of God the Giver Beacon lights may intervene, Lest our gliding bark should shiver For then headlong runs the river, G. H. S. E XXXVI. O do not look so bright and blest, There lurks a dread in all delight, That warns us then to fear their flight, Why is it thus that fairest things That when most light is on their wings, And, sadder still, the pain will stay, And leave us but their tears. Then look not thou so bright and blest, That grief is then most near. T. Moore. XXXVII. CLEANSING FIRES. Let thy gold be cast in the furnace, With its caverns of burning light: As a heart must be tried by pain! In the cruel fire of Sorrow Cast thy heart, do not faint or wail; For as gold is tried by fire, So a heart must be tried by pain! I shall know by the gleam and glitter By your heart's calm strength in loving, Shine bright, strong golden chain; And bless the cleansing fire, Miss Procter. XXXVIII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF ENDURANCE. Were the lonely acorn never bound In the rude cold grasp of the rotting ground; Were it never soaked in the rain and hail, Were never the dull, unseemly ore To be purged of impurity and shame; Or bruised and beaten by stalwart hands, It would never be formed into mystic rings, It would never shine amid priceless gems, Nor become to the world a power and a pride, So thou, O man of a noble soul, Starting in view of a glorious goal, Wert thou never exposed to the blasts, forlorn The storms of sorrow-the sleets of scorn; Wert thou never refined in pitiless fire, From the dross of thy sloth and mean desire; Thou would'st never unriddle the complex plan, And God unfolds to the humblest gaze The bliss and beauty of his ways. C. Mackay, |